Developers Plan Phase II of Flats East Bank Project

By Adrian Maties, Associate Editor
The developers of the Flats East Bank waterfront project in Cleveland announced they have secured commitments from a country-music venue and four restaurants. Toby Keith’s I love This Bar & Grill, Ken Stewart’s, Lago, Flip Side [...]

The developers of the Flats East Bank waterfront project in Cleveland announced they have secured commitments from a country-music venue and four restaurants. Toby Keith’s I love This Bar & Grill, Ken Stewart’s, Lago, Flip Side and Dos Tequilas will open new locations in downtown Cleveland, where the Cuyahoga River meets Lake Erie. With construction well underway on the first phase of the $500 million development, developers now turn their attention to Phase II.

The $275 million Phase I of the development is scheduled to open in spring 2013. It will include an 18‐story Class A office tower with an open-air rooftop deck, a 150-room boutique Aloft hotel, a 16,000-square-foot health club, a variety of restaurants, entertainment offerings, a 1,200-foot riverfront boardwalk and an urban beach.

Now developers have unveiled their plans for the $120 million second phase of the project. It will include the Toby Keith-themed venue and a 140-unit apartment complex with retail on the ground floor and parking underneath. According to the developers, the Phase II construction alone will create more than 800 jobs and bring approximately $4 million in tax revenues.

When finalized, Phase II will create more than 600 permanent jobs and yield more than $1M of annual income taxes for the city of Cleveland. The Cleveland Municipal School District will receive roughly $175,000 annually in income tax from the new residents. Construction on Phase II could start by late summer and be finished by fall of 2013. Developers The Wolstein Group and Fairmount Properties must now work to ensure financing for the second phase of the project.

“My team has battled through a major economic crisis and pulled off what many had said was impossible,” said Scott Wolstein, of the Wolstein Group, in a press release. “We here in Cleveland were among the first in the country to secure financing and begin construction on a major commercial development following the economic collapse. We have proven we know how to get the job done with Phase I, and we will do it again in Phase II. There is no other option–this project is too important to our city’s future.”